Our years-long investigation into city corruption and tyanny has revealed a culture which both violates its own ordinances and shields its taxpayer-subsidized workforce from public accountability.

We're finding school busses, public works trucks, non-bus transit authority vehicles, water works trucks and others obstructing sight-lines of drivers and risking public safety.

In this example we happened on a Des Moines Water Works dump truck in a no-parking zone at the QuikTrip at 15th Street and Ingersoll Avenue, on the south side of High Street between 14th and 15th streets. The department vehicle is also parked facing the wrong direction.

According to the city code of ordinances, parking is not permitted any place along the perimeter of the block, where QuikTrip is situated, at the corner of Ingersoll Avenue and 18th Street.

This convenience store serves the Western Gateway and Sherman Hill areas and sees a high volume ofstore trafficfrom the Central Iowa Shelter, construction and downtown office workers, as well as residents of several neighborhoods.

Parking is permitted along High Street on the north side of the street, which can facilitate busses, large trucks, and trailers. However, workers of various departments routinely use no-parking zones at their leisure, making ingress and egress hazardous for QT patrons.

The City of Des Moines strictly imposes regulations on the regular citizen, but the culture among city employees is one that enables unilateral and systemic exemptions from the consequences, thereby placing them above the citizens they purport to serve.